UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I am trying to write a simple script where I tar a few files and send them to tape

The code looks like this:

tar -cvf archive/tam/*20080507* archive/sam/*20080507* source/delta/*20080507*

This runs fine from the command line but when i try to run this in a script I get an end of tape error.

Anyone know whats wrong ???

Thanks
Zapper

the syntax: is tar -cvf <destination like tape drive or tar file> <files to backup>

example: tar -cvf /dev/rmt/0 /etc /var # will backup /etc and /var to tape drive /dev/rmt/0

tar -cvf /tmp/ball.tar /etc /var # will backup /etc and /var to a file called /tmp/ball.tar

what you are doing tar -cvf archive/tam/*20080507* archive/sam/*20080507* source/delta/*20080507*

is being interpreted as trying to backup archive/sam/*20080507* & source/delta/*20080507* to a file called *20080507* inside archive/tam/

And maybe the error that's coming is not tape as it's not show you specified a tape device. Probably the error is trying to tell you that it's out of space. do a df -k and check the folder where "archive" located, I think it may be 100% full.

the clean way to tar a few files from different location.

example if I wanted to backup all the files under archive
cd /archive

ls -1 * > /tmp/xxx

tar -cvf /dev/rmt/0 `cat /tmp/xxx`

cd /

Ok thanks
So I am wondering why this works from the command line
From what you are saying, I have to specify the tape drive if I am doing this from a script but from the command line it interprets the tape drive on its own somehow ??

Zapper

zapper222:

Could it be that you didn't specify "f" on the CLI? If so, then tar sends its o/p to the first tape drive by default.

tar's behavior could be different on your platform, but this holds true for Solaris (/dev/rmt/0).